The SEO Blog

With Google rolling out Brand Icons within search results, particularly on mobile, its certainly time that businesses focus more on taking advantage of the Google real-estate, something we discussed in the ultimate local seo guide.

Google said of the enhanced search results: With this new design, a website’s branding can be front and center, helping you better understand where the information is coming from and what pages have what you’re looking for.

Google added: The name of the website and its icon appear at the top of the results card to help anchor each result, so you can more easily scan the page of results and decide what to explore next.

How to Get Your Brand Icon in Search Results

Brand Icons are one of the simplest things to control in Google’s world, they are just your favicon.

Sounds simple, but it comes with some caveats. It must represent your company and be your logo generally (and that isn’t even written in the article they posted about how to control it here, its just what we’ve figured so far). That means, you must register your business with Google My Business and ensure your logo is uploaded, your logo should be on your website too.

There are some other guidelines Google outlines on the link above, so give them a read, its fairly easy to comply though.

Whatever it is that you might be using SEO for, whether it is a personal issue or a business-related one, you need to make sure that you are working on it in the right manner at the right time. That means that you are able to understand what it is that actually leads to improved SEO, and that you are focused on building up those things from the ground up, in order to much more effectively have SEO that will bring about the desired results you want and need. In this post, we are going to take a look at some of the essential and basic things that you will want to focus on in order to help improve your SEO. As long as you do these, you should find that your SEO is much more improved and more likely to be effective.

Good IT Practices

Because SEO is the kind of thing which is entirely IT-based, anything you can do to improve your IT practices is going to also likely improve your SEO. For that reason, it’s important to make sure that you are constantly looking at ways to improve your IT, and that you are doing that as swiftly as you can too. There are many things that might help on this front. You might be keen to try and streamline your IT practices, which can be an easy and effective way of making all your processes much more effective. Or if you click here to visit office-tek.co.uk you will see some of the value of trying to ensure that your IT is not so expensive. That too will help with your SEO, as it will mean that whatever you are doing is not going to cause trouble in your business in general.

An Eye For Detail

Much of what you need to do in SEO depends on looking at the very small things, and for that reason you will find that a keen eye for detail is likely to ensure that you are going to be able to improve your SEO in general. If you don’t feel that you naturally have that, then it is a case of either developing it in yourself or putting someone else in charge of the SEO who you think does have that ability. Either of these solutions will ensure that your SEO is going to be much more effective and successful, so it is absolutely something that you should focus on as best as you can.

Time

Finally, remember that SEO is like anything else in that it often takes a lot of time and practice to get good at it. You should bear this in mind if you start to get frustrated with it or you feel that you are not really doing it right, and remember that in time you will be able to improve it as much as you might need to. Time will ensure that you learn what you need to learn and that you do it as well as possible, so try to develop a little patience.

Optimising your SEO strategy and website for multiple locations isn’t, on the whole, that easy. As with any strategy Google is always changing the goal posts you need to address and you will often require the help of developers for complete optimisation.

This multi-location SEO guide is designed to be your one-stop guide to help you understand where to start and what could be missing from your strategy (as a minimum).

What is Multi-Location SEO?

Multiple Site or Multi Location SEO is search engine optimisation for businesses with multiple locations of brick ‘n’ mortar stores / offices which want to appear well in search.

Search engines, like Google, want to customise search to users. To this end when a user searches for a particular store or brand they are today likely to find a stack of local stores for that brand appear in search results – this is known as the “local pack”. This is matched off only the brand names.

It’s also more relevant for the growing Voice Search trend where users are searching using terms such as “_____ near me” and potentially being given a map again or directions to the local store.

Multi-location SEO works for any number of locations from 5 to 5000 and even 50,000 if done correctly. Franchises such as McDonalds use it too, so don’t get hung up on whether these strategies can work for you.

1 – Site Structure

As with any website, site structure and more particularly URL structure is one of the keys to search success. It can also be one of the first points to failure.

The first rule here is that whilst you can have an index of all your locations on a single page you should never simply have a single page of all your locations acting as your multi-location page. User’s will find it complicated, annoying and frustrating – but search engines will just wonder what the hell is going on.

The best solution all round is to have each location on it’s own page, or rather set of pages where relevant. Here is an example of how this works:

As you see this structure offers a clean and simple approach, it would be easy for users to remember and easy to replicate by store.

If you are multi-national, or multi-state, as well as multi-location then perhaps skipping a location index with a complete index and simply having a search would be of more use to users. However I would suggest a url setup as follows:

intl-store.com/country/state/ < you could still have a state index if neededintl-store.com/country/state/location < individual location page

Importantly, do not create a separate domain or sub-domain for each location in your business. It many cases a country based approach is ideal, however beyond this a centralised approach is the optimal SEO strategy. With decentralisation of locations websites comes reduced “link juice” and Domain Authority, this should always be cemented centrally to the main brand website to ensure growth and sustained authority.

2 – Location Page Structure

Read this section carefully this is where all the real secrets to success are for on-site success with multi-location seo success!

With each individual location page, every location should have the same specific information and in the same format. This is to say the same pieces of information appear on each page but it should be unique for each location.

Those pieces of information are these (though may not be limited to):

The complete Location name, address and phone number (NAP). In the correct format as per Google requirements!

Location-specific content, and lots of it! This means testimonials, access information, photos, opening times and offers.

Complete descriptions of how to get to your business using key transport infrastructure (whether that is buses, trains or motorways).

Specific on-page content (text) about the location, even if this is only a few sentences make the content unique to the page.

Unique location focused Meta Tags (title and description), this is what appears in search and whilst has little value for rankings it is what users see and hear (voice search).

Did I mention use amazing images? (and maybe video too!)

With all the above you will have a really keen advantage over your competitors in 95% of cases. Most will just roll out the same content to every page, just changing opening times and thats about it – so always go the extra mile for your users.

Here is where you can go the extra mile for your users.

Just like search engines, user appreciates the information, but they find it hard to find so formatting is key – put information where they can find it easily, use clear heading (use styling and not h1 tags all over the shop – remember you can only have one h1 tag on a page).

Next up, remember that voice search is a growing trend and you need to write naturally. No one talks without taking a breath. So, keep your information simple and remember you want search engines to be able to strip it out easily.

This brings us neatly to a BIG TIP, implement microformats! I have bleated on about microformats and structured data for years and exploited it’s worth for clients. Today we are seeing with voice search exactly how that works for everyone overall. Using Schema.org you will be able to implement LocalBusiness Structured Data information (among other should you decide) and make it much easier for search engines to find the relevant information on your location pages, data that can be served immediately with search to users – potentially increasing your rankability and voice searchability.

Handy SEO Tips

All the above may have you itching to get started, but before you do a few words of caution.

1) Don’t create a ton of location pages for areas you don’t operate in, as a rule of thumb only create a page if you have an office locally and can put an address to it.

2) Don’t create several pages for one location and try to keyword stuff them (eg /seo-manchester /seo-in-manchester and /best-seo-manchester … just create one page for each location and let the content on the page do the work, several pages will simply decrease any ranking juice.

3 – Optimise Google My Business & Bing Places

It is important that across the two big search engines you own your locations and brand, the way to do this is claiming your locations using Google My Business and Bing Places.

These operate in much the same fashion, and importantly have feeds across other sites and into the vast mobile world. This means that almost every person carries this search within their pockets, searching for your brand or products could mean finding your local store … or your competitors. Caring for your locations on these platforms could mean the difference between a sale or not.

Here are my top tips to optimise these platforms.

Ensure all information is accurate, spelt correctly and as comprehensive as possible. (fill every box, category and attribute if you can). Ensure your name, address, phone number (NAP) is in the correct Google/Bing format.

Link directly to your local page.

Upload photos regularly of the store, upload videos to where possible.

Ask your customers to review you on GMB. (this is shown to increase the incidence of GMB showing in search).

Turn on Messaging through GMB, allowing customers to talk to you via GMB.

Don’t neglect your GMB/BP presence ever, update them regularly (if there is a lot, do them on a cycle).

Handy SEO Tip

Always make sure your local business is verified, if you notice it ever ‘drops off’ claim it again. It is rare to see a non-verified business appear directly in search of a non-brand search, verification will increase your chances of appearing in local search.

If you want to know more about optimising Google My Business, check out Neil Patels article on the subject.

4 – Build Local Citations

Local Citations are in effect the links/citations from large scale directory-type websites offering guides to areas or the such. A good example of this type of website is Yelp or TripAdvisor – there are also industry-specific directories which can provide citations, as can local news publications.

Building localised citations with links towards the Location Pages, not the main website page, is a key way of indicating to search engines this is the main page for this town, city or region.

Often you will see citation pages appear directly in search for certain types of search, for example “plumbers in manchester”, “photographers in manchester” or “local restaurants” – these are all likely to turn up some type of citation website. Each listing a business with a possible link back to that businesses website.

As with GMB and BP (previously mentioned), you should optimise citations using the following steps:

Ensure all information is accurate, spelt correctly and as comprehensive as possible. (fill every box, category and attribute if you can).

Link only to your location page.

Upload photos regularly of the store, upload videos to where possible.

Ask your customers to review you if appropriate on the platform (mainly for Yelp type platforms)

Update your profiles on a regular basis, this is likely to increase your rankings within the database.

5 – Build Localised Content

On-Site – This step is more common for single location SEO than for multi-location SEO. However, you will always want to produce specific content which meets the user’s expectations and this will always be local to a page – in particular, if they land there or navigation quickly to a page.

With this in mind, each location page should be highly localised. Offers should be specific and any blogs shown should be applicable to that location. My own preference is to also have specific blogs written for each location if possible or each region, making content even more specific and improving the local seo of these pages further – as well as the user experience.

Off-site / Link building – As with any website, the links your website can attain can help to improve your rankings. This is no different with local SEO.

Indeed, it is often much clearer to see the results of a great link building strategy within a localised niche than it is non-localised or link building on more generic terms. This is because local search often reacts faster with ranking changes and there is less competitions often (though this isn’t always the case), this means being local and building local authority links can quickly improve your local rankings.

The best places as always are industry website, blogs and longterm influencers, but other great places to look at for links include news publications and local events. Ensuring links remain local and industry-led is the key to success. Don’t forget the links must always lead to the location page, this should then have a positive effect on your rankings.

Conclusion

Multi-location SEO isn’t an easy game, it isn’t a quick game and it all starts by getting your website in order.

Once you’ve done that move on to your externals.

But always remember user experience is key, keep things consistent and if you’ve a lot of locations this will be a long road but it will be worth it.

Whatever your business venture, from selling weird and wonderful items online to a straightforward service for customers and clients, the tone and brand is everything. When you are creating a business image, it needs to be consistent, despite the platform it is on. And when we work online, we can have a lot of control over the brand, but what happens when we step into the real world and need it to be a logical extension of what we provide online? How can this be achieved?

Crafting The Image Carefully

When budget is an issue, you’ve got to learn how to make the most of your limited resources. And in fact, this can work to your advantage, when your resources are minimal. If you have a skeleton staff, for example, and they work online and offline, this is a very simple way to maintain some control over the tone of voice. And when you start to outsource for extra help, it’s an easy way to communicate this overall business image, despite your limitations. Virtual offices work very well in this respect, and on www.yourvirtualofficelondon.co.uk you can make the most of call answering services as well as other virtual functions that can provide this comprehensive image.

Using The Same Language

When it comes to brand voice, it should form a natural part of your business ethics. If you spend a lot of time discussing the tone of voice and specific words, this becomes part of the company culture. And when you are discussing topics offline, you should make the online tone follow the same pattern. It’s a far more organic way to develop this going from offline to online, rather than the other way around. Because online copy can be tweaked with so much, it can lose a lot of its human qualities.

Leverage User-generated Content Online

There are certain aspects of your business that only functions well online. User-generated content is one of those things and can comprise so many different aspects, including online reviews, recommendations from colleagues, as well as videos of photos from customers. You can learn more about user-generated content on www.sproutsocial.com so prospects can learn what it’s like to work with you. This can be difficult to harness, especially if you are setting up more offline meetings, but it helps to bridge the gap between the business and potential customers.

Building The Relationship

If you have prospects that you deal with online, work at meeting them in an offline capacity, and vice versa. This helps to provide a stronger bond between the two entities, while at the same time, ensuring that your brand and tone are fleshed out further. Ultimately, building a relationship between business and client, or company and customer, is about making it more “3D”. This is why many businesses can struggle if they have a purely online relationship with their clients.

It can be a very difficult thing to achieve, but the mistakes that many modern businesses are making, namely providing an online service only, only goes to serve the fact that these companies fall by the wayside when customers are demanding a more comprehensive approach to service. This means matching online to the offline, or if you will, the virtual to the reality.

I don’t swear often on my blog, but perhaps that means I’ve got your attention. I hope so because that may mean you’ll read the next few hundred words and remember them for the next while…

If there is nothing else you take away from this article here are the take aways, right now upfront!

Links don’t pass 100% value of a page’s worth to the page which is being linked or to which it is being redirected. There is a dampening effect on both a link and/or redirect (generally considered to be 0.85).

This effect is a compound effect. So if you have an external link to a site which is then redirected twice, you could see 0.85, 0.85, 0.85 in a best case scenario – but not all redirects and links are considered equal and so this may vary and you could come off worse than this!

Reduce the chan as far as you can, if you can replace the first link in the example above to the correct url do it! if not go back to the start of your redirect chain… don’t have redirect chains… they suck.

Why Redirect Chains Suck?

PageRank is a factor you will likely have heard of if you are at all involved in organic search. It’s something I was never really into as a metric, it was simply the value of a link and page (though i’d argue there were better metrics) and well it was always out of date, plus rarely updated to the ‘public’. Today PR is part the wider factors used in search still, a very minor factor, though I always thought this was always the case.

Any how, why am I talking about PageRank?

Well PageRank is where link value is measured, it’s where the previously mentioned dampening effect comes from. It was first mentioned in the first patent for PR by Google.

So with the general metric in the patent set to 0.85, and with links and redirects alike able to compound this effect we can start to see that multiple links and redirect chains in particular can cause big issues for ranking (because afterall the more rankings are dampened the less it’s worth to search).

But there is more to this than just this one little consideration…

Redirect chains have other issues…

Redirect chains cause search bots big issues, after 4 “jumps” (redirects) search bots basically die, they stop their crawl attempt and give up. It’s the end game and game over. For web browsers (almost all of them) it’s after 5 jumps. This means you can have 20 jumps if you really want and in theory it would pass some micro value (at least in theory) but the reality is search engines will never see that value, and users will never get to that page and instead be served a 500 server error.

Lessons To Learn

Read the take aways at the top of this article for the key lessons.

But the top lesson is to reduce any redirects, you will thank me if you ever ever have to migrate a large website. There is nothing as painful as a multi-thousand page website needing redirects created where that are many-more thousand redirect chains that need unpicking first… its painful technically but it will be painful on the bank of the client too.